Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has come under heavy criticism from politicians for making malicious remarks against Pakistan over the latter’s mediating role in the ongoing US-Israel war against Iran.
At an all-party meeting in India, Jaishankar said India did not see itself as a “dalaal” (middleman) like Pakistan, rejecting Pakistan’s efforts as a mediator between Iran and the United States. News reported Thursday.
“There is nothing new in Pakistan’s mediation efforts as the country has been ‘used’ by the US since 1981,” Jaishankar said at the all-party meeting convened by the government to discuss the ongoing crisis in West Asia.
The development comes days after reports suggested that Pakistan is positioning itself as a key mediator to help end the US-Israeli war against Iran through active behind-the-scenes diplomacy.
According to international media reports, Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defense Force Field Marshal Asim Munir recently held a telephone conversation with US President Donald Trump, with the White House also confirming the contact. Senior Pakistani officials reportedly facilitated communication between Tehran and key American interlocutors, including Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
Reports also suggest that Islamabad is being considered as a potential venue for a high-level meeting between the United States and Iran later this week, which US Vice President JD Vance is expected to attend if the proposal goes through.
Chastising India’s foreign minister, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said Jaishankar considered himself “a hi-fi dalal”, adding that the remarks “reflect personal frustration”.
Meanwhile, Murtaza Solangi – who is President Asif Ali Zardari’s spokesperson – strongly condemned the remarks and said that it seems “Dalal, Jaishankar and his Modi cabal have lost all their marbles after the May war last year”.
“He [Jaishankar] seems to be infected with a self-destructive virus in addition to diplomatic dementia losing everything he had learned at diplomatic school,” he wrote on X.
“The fact is that he is a Modi Dalal who is a Netanyahu Dalal,” he said, adding that Jaishankar’s mission to “isolate Pakistan” had ended up isolating India.
Meanwhile, outgoing former foreign minister Jalil Abbas Jilani said the Indian foreign minister’s use of such language “reflects a sick state of mind.”
“Reducing diplomacy to name-calling may serve domestic politics – but it does little for peace,” he wrote on X.
Former Sindh governor Imran Ismail said the comment was “strange coming from someone whose foreign policy often gives the impression that it is constantly for praise.”
“India is selling its independence to the highest bidder. Do you know what? [it is] called?” he added.
Former power minister Khurram Dastgir Khan condemned the “reprehensible” language used by Jaishankar, saying: “Pakistan was the archenemy of Hindutva hubris in May 2025 and remains so.”
” Compromise “
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has been criticized for what the opposition described as the country’s isolation after siding with Israel before the war.
Terming Modi and his foreign policy as ‘compromised’, Opposition Leader Rahul Gandhi called Modi and his foreign policy as ‘compromised’, objecting to the Prime Minister’s references to the Covid pandemic when he spoke about the crisis in West Asia in his speeches in Parliament this week.
“Modi ji said that a Covid like time was coming. He forgot what happened then, how many people died and what kind of tragedies took place,” he said.
Asked about reports that Pakistan is playing the role of mediator in negotiations between the United States and Iran to end the ongoing war, Gandhi said: “Our foreign policy is Prime Minister Modi’s personal foreign policy. You can see the results; everyone considers it a universal joke. »
“I can give it to you in writing; the Prime Minister will do what America and Israel say. He will not work in the interest of India and its farmers; he will do what America and Israel say.”
